West sole survivor from Marlins '05 first-round draft class

This spring may be left-hander Sean West's last chance to stick with the Miami Marlins.

March 2, 2012|By Juan C. Rodriguez, Sun Sentinel

JUPITER It occurred to him instantly. Upon hearing the Marlins traded Chris Volstad to the Chicago Cubs, Sean West realized it was down to him.

The Marlins in 2005 owned five of the first 44 picks in the June draft. They used all of them on pitchers, Volstad being the first selectee at No. 16 overall and West going 44th. The others: Aaron Thompson (22), Jacob Marceaux (29) and Ryan Tucker (34).

Marceaux flamed out of affiliated baseball after spending 2009 in Double-A with the White Sox. The Marlins traded Thompson to the Nationals for Nick Johnson on July 31, 2009. He was subsequently claimed off waivers by the Pirates and made his major league debut last season. The Rangers claimed Tucker off waivers from the Marlins on Oct. 6, 2010.

"It's pretty crazy because I thought Vollie was going to be here forever because he's like a hometown guy," West said of Volstad, a Palm Beach Gardens native. "It set in right away that I was the last guy."

West spoke with Tucker and Thompson during the offseason as well. He's lost contact with Marceaux, the lone college pitcher of the bunch who in 2010 played for three different independent league outfits.

"I definitely wish those guys were still around," West said. "It's different being the last guy standing."

How much longer West is standing in the Marlins' organization is speculative. He is out of minor league options, meaning he must clear waivers for the Marlins to demote him. Though injuries and underperformance have been the story of West's career, it's likely a team would take a shot on a strong-armed 6-8 left-hander.

Manager Ozzie Guillen earlier in camp asked West how he wasn't in the big leagues with his stuff. West as a 23-year-old in 2009 made 20 starts for the Marlins, going 8-6 with a 4.79 ERA, 44 walks and 70 strikeouts in 103 1/3 innings. He's totaled two big league appearances since then thanks to back-to-back, injury-plagued seasons. Everything from elbow to knee to back issues has slowed West. Last season, Dr. James Andrews cleaned out his elbow.

"This is the one spring I can say it's the best I've felt in a long time," said West, adding he wasn't sure whether the door had closed with the Marlins. "Especially when Volstad departed, I got a little nervous. Stuff just started brewing in my head. There was always that thought I wasn't going to come back."

West initially was in Anibal Sanchez's pitching group. Guillen moved him into Mark Buehrle's contingent and West is making the most of it.

"I've been hanging out with him and trying to get better every day, trying to learn something new every day," said West, who in 2011 was limited to 17 starts and 87 innings for Triple-A New Orleans and went 5-8 with a 5.59 ERA. "It's definitely not hard when you have 11 years in the big leagues. Ozzie has told me I've got the stuff. It's up to me to decide I want to do it. I do, and I'm very excited."

So far, Buehrle has emphasized to West that not every start is scrapbook-worthy. He said to expect 10 good ones, 10 bad ones and 10 that can go either way.

"I'm probably my own worst enemy when it comes to that," West said. "I want to do perfect every outing and when stuff doesn't go my way I kind of dwell on it into the next day. That's something I have to work on, learn how to have short-term memory.

"It definitely says something that I'm the last one here. I've gotten all these chances and they've hung in there with me. It's time for me to give them what they want."

** Sanchez is working through some shoulder soreness and his Grapefruit League debut has been pushed back to March 9. Both Sanchez and Guillen called it precautionary.